How It All Started
It all started in October of 1997, just a few months shy of Brandon's 3rd birthday. His mom took him to the doctor because Brandon was having trouble with bowel movements. They detected a large mass in his abdomen, ran tests, did surgery and Brandon was diagnosed with neuroblastoma (malignant cancer.) The tumor was so large and involved in his abdomen (around a kidney, intestines, major arteries, behind a lung, etc.) that it could not all be removed. So over the next 8 months, Brandon had chemotherapy treatments and several more surgeries.

Remission
During the summer of 1998, Brandon was declared in remission! A few months later, they removed his "central line" (an implanted medical device used to hook up IVs, do blood draws, etc.) He could finally take a whole bath! And he was looking forward to going swimming next summer. And his mom was relieved of the maintenance and worry that an infection would be introduced through the central line.

By his 4th birthday, he had grown back all of his hair. He had regained his weight and his color. He had a wonderful birthday party. Lots of friends. Lots of fun. One day Brandon and his brother were playing at our house. They talked excitedly about the trip to Disney World they were going to take during spring break (mid-March.) My 4 year old and Brandon were running around in their underwear. I saw the huge scars across Brandon's torso and I thought that was all just a bad memory now. At one point Brandon climbed into my lap and I tousled his curly little hair. He felt so strong and healthy again. Things were getting back to "normal" for him and his family. His mom was going back to work (she had taken extended leave.)

Relapse
Then results from a routine checkup in February '99 revealed the cancer was back in the same place near a kidney. Within a week, Brandon underwent surgery again. They could only remove about 1/2 of the tumor, because of its involvement with a major artery. They also found out the cancer had invaded his bone marrow. Their trip to Disney had to be cancelled since he would soon be starting chemo again.

Updates
So in March of 1999, Brandon began another round in the battle against this cancer. As I know more, I will post updates...